Thursday, December 16, 2010

You would think after a huge road comeback win against a team you cannot stand like the Penguins writing a recap of the day would be fun thing to do, but honestly it is not at the moment and that is because of the broken hand suffered by Rangers assistant captain Ryan Callahan during the first period of tonight’s game against the Pens. In the quick post above that detailed the injury to Callahan I also quickly explored the option of calling up Mats Zuccarello from the AHL.

As for the game itself it was a tremendous third period effort by the hockey club lead by some unusual suspects, Alex Frolov and Erik Christensen, in the comeback win. This win can be a huge one for the club and does help to continue the idea that this year is different than prior seasons. The recap gives you all the details on what went on in the game as well as my thoughts on who were the best players for the Rangers on this night that took two different shocking turns.

Following the game John Tortorella had some money quotes in his press conference in which he discussed why the team won, the painful loss of Callahan that he felt immediately and not only him saying "he has balls as big as the building" in reference to Drury but how he said it made me chuckle. The Video of the Press conference is here.

This morning I wrote about Artem Anisimov had refound his game and for him it was just in the nick of time with Drury now back and lurking for him spot, little did I know that tonight Cally would get injured and they would be playing with one another before the day is over. Inside is a discussion of what has changed in Anisimov between when he is struggling and when he is going well, and it was one of those things that was evidenced on his goal again this evening. In addition I compared the Anisimov's situation with how the Rangers have handled Derek Stepan and Michael Del Zotto to see which treatment was going to fit Anisimov. In the end it appears Anisimov is going to avoid needing to watch like Del Zotto having worked through his struggles on the ice like Stepan. I believe not only working through it but the way he handled himself in the midst of the struggles says a great deal about Artie and his future.

Leading up to the game there was the information about how Todd White was going to be the scratch, Lundqvist would start and why Vinny Prospal was sent home. After tonight’s result those decisions which were really no brainers to begin with all look like brilliant coaching moves as it was Christensen who was said to be the other potential scratch and he scored, Lundqvist was excellent in net though not tested with particularly hard saves too much tonight and Prospal move was good for the team.

Finally there was video of a fight between Colton Orr and Zack Stortini from Tuesday night that made me think about why he is so missed from the Rangers not just for what he did to Stortini but why he was fighting him in the first place. Check out the story to see what I wish Derek Boogaard would learn from Colton Orr.